Wheel and process of making the same.



,175. PATENTED APR. 17, 1906.

B. F. RIX & B. P. HOLDEN.

WHEEL AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME.

C. B. HOWE,

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1905.

lllllllllllH lmlllllllllllll n'nrrnn- STATS rant orrron.

CHARLES E. HOWE, OF WABASH, INDIANA, BENJAMIN F. RIX, OF KALA- MAZOO, MICHIGAN, AND EDWARD P. HOLDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO WABASH MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WABASH, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented April 17, 1906.

Application filed September 16, 1905. Serial No- 278,819.

[ all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES E. HOWE, a resident of Wabash, in the county of Wabash and State of Indiana, BENJAMIN F. Rix, a resident of Kalamazoo, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan, and EDWARD P. HOLDEN, a resident of Chicago, in the c unty of Cook and State of Illinois, citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Wheel and Process of Making the Same; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures refer to like parts.

The'object of this invention is to provide a metal wheel that can be cheaply andconveniently constructed and at the same time be strong and durable.

One feature of the construction results from the manner of making the wheel, consisting in providing the rim of the wheel with apertures for the insertion of the outer ends 0 the spokes, then inserting said spokes in the rim of the wheel with a bend on them which will cause them to hold in position, then providing a pair of hub-plates with punched openings into which alternately the other ends of the spokes may be easily in serted, then securing the spokes in said hubplates by pressing the unched-out tongues down upon the ends of t espokes, and, lastly, spreading-the two hublates apart and securing them to the en s of the hub-tube. Thisconstruction by reason of the s reading apart of the hublates secures t e desired tension of the spo es and makes a strong and durable wheel and yet one which can be pheaply and easily assembled.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the wheel. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the lateral edge of one of the s okes. Fig. 3 is a similar elevation of one of t e hub-plates.

Fig. 4 is a central section through the two,

hub-plates and the two s okes at the time the spokes are first inserte in said hub-plates and before they are secured. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a portion of the wheel passing through the hub, along one spoke, and

through the rim at one side. Fig. 6 is a section through the tire and rim of a rubber-tired wheel formed in the same manner as the metal wheel.

While we show an all-metal wheel witha metal tread for the purpose of explaining the nature of the invention, we do not wish to be limited to any articular form of the rim or tire, as it may be modified in many ways to suit the needs of different eople; but in the form shown herein to exp ain the invention there is seen a metal frame 10 with a flat tread and having an inwardl -extending and centrally-located annular ange 11. This flange has spoke-holes 12 at various points. These spoke holes are preferably transversely extended through the flange.

The spokes 13 are flat metal strips bent at one end so as to have the surfaces 14, 15, and 16. The bend 14 is at a slight angle from a line extending longitudinally through the spoke. The portion 15 is nearly at a right angle to said line! The end portion 16 is nearly parallel with a line running through the portion 14, as seen in Figs. 2 and 5. However, this form is not so defined in the spoke. The end described is to be connected with the rim of the wheel. The other end is somewhat similarly formed to extend in an opposite direction and is ada ted to be connected with hub-plates 18 an 19.

The hub-plates are formed, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, in the form of plates with their edges turned at 20 to form a downwardly-extending flange and being notched at 21, so as to provide notches through which the spokes may ass, and the sides of the notches 22 are shou ders for holding the spokes from lateral movement relatively to the plates or the plates from rotary movement relatively to the spokes.

Each plate has a central opening and is punched to have a central flan e 23, that extends away from the plate in t e same direction as the rim-flange 20. The outer edge of the metal flanges 23 in the two plates are made somewhat differently. In the lower plate (shown in Figs. 4. and 5) there is an inner annular flange 24 parallel with the main bod of the plate, upon which the lower end of tlie hub-tube 25 is ada ted to rest when put in place against it. T e external diameters of the metal flange 23 and the plate 19 adjacent to the annular flange 24 are the same. The other plate 18 is not rovided with the annular flange 24; but t e outer edge of the flange 23 is extended somewhat, so that after said plate is placed upon the upper end of the hub-tube 25 said extended portion or outer edge of the flange 23 may be pressed in by suitable machinery upon the tube 25, as shown in Fig. 5.

The manner of assembling is as follows: The spokes are inserted in the rim-openings 12 by hand. Then the inner ends of the spokes are inserted very easily in the openings 30 of the hub-plates. These openings 30 are made by punchin out tongues 31 in the same direction from t e plate as the middle and peripheral flanges extend. A large enou h tongue is punched out to leave a large opening 30, so that the inner spokes may be inserted, the plates during such process of the manufacture being relatively close together. The plates can be turned or twisted slightly to enable the inner ends of every spoke to be inserted, as shown in Fig. 4. After the spokes are thus inserted in the hublates the wheel is placed in a press or suitab e machine with the plate 19 downward and the hub-tube 25 resting therein, as shown in Fig. 5. Then the machine depresses the plate 19 awayfrom the plate 18, and the hub-tube 25 is slipped down through the plate 18 until the lower end of the tube rests upon the plate 19, and then a suitable hammer or press comes down upon the extended portion of the flange 23 and bends it inward upon the upper end of the tube 25. The press ormachine at the same time pressesdown the tongues 31 flat upon the spokes and into the openings from which they were cut originally, so that said tongues will hold the spokes from any possible escape, andall arts, by reason of the spreading of the hublhtes and the hub-tube holding them in their spread position, are under the tension, and a strong durable wheel results therefrom.

The wheel is made for a rubber tire in the same way, and it is substantially the same wheel as shown in the first five figures and described above. In such case as shown in Fig. 6 the rim 10 is nearly semicircular in cross-section and has at intervals openin s in it for the s okes 13. The outer ends 01 the spokes are Ormed differently from what they manner as before described, the spokes being first inserted through the holes in the rim 10.

After the wheel is thus formed the rubber tire may be sprungon in the usual manner.

While we show and describe a hub-tube between the two plates 18 and 19, we do not wish to be limited to a tube, as a solid spindle or axle could be similarlyemployedfor the purpose of holding said plates spread.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In the process of making a wheel, securing the spokes to the hub by punching tongues out of hub-plates and leaving holes, bending the ends of the spokes, inserting the bent ends of the spokes in said holes in the hub-plates, and placing the punched tongues of the hubplates back into position against the spokes.

T 2. In the process of making a wheel, making the hub of two independent movable hub-plates and an independent intermediate tubular member, said hub plates having central apertures with oppositely-extending flanges surrounding said apertures, securing the inner ends of the spokes to said hubplates, placing a tubular hub member in said apertures, and turning the flanges surrounding the apertures over the ends of said tubular members.

3. A wheel consisting of a T rim with transverse spoke openings through the inwardly-extending annular flange thereof, a pair of hub-plates with transverse spokeopenings, spokes with their outer and inner ends reversely offset at right angles with extremities extending beyond said ofl'set adapt ed to be inserted through said openings in opposite sides of the rim-flange and hub-plates respectively, and means for holding said hubplates apart.

4. A wheel consisting of a rim with spoke openings, a pair of hub-plates having spokeopenings formed by punching out tongues that are bent against the spokes after insertion, spokes fitting in the spoke-openings in said frame and hub-plates, and means for holding said hub-plates apart.

In witness whereof we have hereunto affixed our signatures in the presence of the witnesses herein named.

CHARLES E. HOWE. BENJAMIN F. RIX. EDWARD P. HOLDEN.

Witnesses as to Charles E. Howe? ORANGE BARRETT, W. R. WILSON. Witnesses as to Benjamin F. Rix:

W. R. WiLsoN, MARVIN J. SciIABEae. Witnesses as to Edward P. Holden:

GEO. W. MEYERs, ANNA It. SToKoE. 

